It is often necessary to transfer a person from one bed, or other horizontal surface, to another. The person being transferred is typically an invalid, a patient, or someone else who is physically incapable of moving himself. The transfer typically occurs at a hospital, nursing home, or other care facility as the person is moved between beds, gurneys, operating tables, and other horizontal platforms. Accomplishing this type of transfer is not an easy task. In hospitals, it is common for six or more nurses to be required to transfer a patient from a hospital bed to a gurney. Nevertheless, the most common job-related injury suffered by nurses are back injuries incurred during a patient transfer.
Several devices have been disclosed to help with such transfers. For example, devices containing internal rollers are disclosed in Gilleland, U.S. Pat. No. 2,528,048, issued Oct. 31, 1950, and Davis, U.S. Pat. No. 2,918,681, issued Dec. 29, 1959. The Gilleland device is a wheeled stretcher containing rollers and winding means. The stretcher is used only for transferring patients to or from the stretcher. The Davis device, in contrast, is capable of use in transfers between any two platforms. It is a rigid, flat, rectangular device containing rollers and a track of an endless belt of heavy material such as canvas. The device is placed into a position straddling the bed containing the patient and the bed to which the patient is being moved. The patient is shifted onto the device and then rolled onto the second bed.
A second class of patient shifters are those consisting of mats having low friction surfaces on one side. Such mats are disclosed in Warman, U.S. Pat. No. 3,769,642, issued Nov. 6, 1973, and Berge, U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,565, issued Oct. 4, 1977. Warman discloses a rectangular sheet having a high friction surface on one side and a low friction surface on the other side. The sheet is partially folded over with the low friction surfaces facing each other. The patient is then rolled on top of the folded-over portion and the sheet is pulled to move the patient. A second embodiment disclosed in FIG. 5 of Warman contains the same type of sheet except the longitudinal ends are connected together to form an open-ended tube. The tube is open-ended to enable it to rotate upon itself. A third embodiment disclosed in FIGS. 6 through 8 consists of the tube plus a second sheet which is attached along a seam dividing the second sheet into two substantially-equal portions. Berge discloses an open-ended tubelike mat having an interior layer of a relatively friction-free material and an exterior layer of a foam-type material. The Berge mat is placed in a position straddling the two beds and the patient is then pushed or pulled across the mat. The mat is free to rotate upon itself because of its open ends.
Smaller devices intended for massaging or touch enhancement and which consist of sealed enclosures of flexible materials containing lubricant on the inside are disclosed in Beck, German Pat. No. 645,391, published May 26, 1937; Paschal, U.S. Pat. No. 2,694,396, issued Nov. 16, 1954; Perry et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,021, issued Apr. 14, 1987; and Wright et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,354, issued Dec. 27, 1988.
Despite the number of patient shifting devices which have been disclosed, none is apparently enjoying commercial success and a need exists for an effective device which is lightweight, inexpensive, simple to use, and easy to store.